This invention relates to wall-mounted hangers for hanging a picture frame that is provided with a hanging wire at the back of picture frame.
More specifically, this invention relates to picture frame hangers that can be fabricated from continuously bending of a metal strip, and can be attached to walls, such as dry walls by driving a nail through the hanger and into the wall in inclined position.
Many picture frames have a hanging wire attached to the back of the picture frame. A variety of wall-mounted hangers in prior art have been proposed for suspending the hanging wire of the picture frame onto the wall. The hangers in prior art mainly consist of an anchor section in the upper part of the hanger, and a hook section in the lower part of the hanger. The anchor section allows a fastener such as a nail to drive through the hanger, and mount the hanger onto the wall. The hook section forms an U-hook for suspending and retaining the hanging wire of the picture frame. In prior art, a lateral projectile is commonly provided in the anchor section, which guides the nail driving through the hanger and entering into the wall in inclined position. The inclined position of the nail offers the advantages of enhancing the loading capacity of the hanger, preventing the hanger from swiveling or pivoting about the nail, and preventing the nail from sliding out of the wall. The anchor section of the hanger is located directly above the hook section of the hanger. The hangers are commonly fabricated from continuously bending of a metal strip. The above described hangers in prior art can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,675,281, 3,226,065, 2,137,837, 2,454,813, 2,940,712, and 5,267,719, . . . etc. FIG. 1 illustrates the hanger in prior art that is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,675,281.
There is a significant drawback of the above hangers in prior art because the anchor section of the hanger is located directly above the hook section of the hanger. When hanging a picture frame onto the hanger, a person can hardly see the hanger behind the picture frame when he or she is holding the picture frame against the wall and the hanger. Therefore, it is a common practice for a person to hold the picture frame against the wall and above the hanger, and then slide the picture frame downward against the wall in an effort to approach the hanger from the top of the hanger. Unfortunately, the lateral projectile in the anchor section becomes an obstacle that blocks the entrance to U-hook in the hook section of the hanger. As a result, it requires a person to take time and effort to engage the hanging wire into the U-hook of the hanger. Frequently, the hanging wire can be mistakenly hung onto the top of lateral projectile of the anchor section rather than the U-hook of the hook section. The picture frame is therefore unstably hung onto the hanger, and can easily slip out of the hanger.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a picture frame hanger capable of being fabricated from continuously bending of a metal strip, capable of being attached to wall by driving a nail through the hanger and into the wall in inclined position, and capable of engaging the hanging wire of the picture frame into the hook section of the hanger without interference from the anchor section of the hanger.